


give me something fun to do (like a life of loving you)

by herwhiteknight



Category: RWBY
Genre: (it might evolve into an ot3 between pyrrha/weiss/ilia), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Weiss is a Big Gay, aka the Vytal Festival doesn't go to shit, and instead everything is happy and gay, aro!Ruby, characters (and developing relationships) added later as they appear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:22:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22264057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/herwhiteknight/pseuds/herwhiteknight
Summary: In the midst of budding romance and gay shenanigans, the Vytal Festival carries on. Who will win; the blonde with a big heart and even bigger muscles or the talented fighter with a wit sharper than her spear? They've both got love on their sides, after all.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Ilia Amitola/Pyrrha Nikos
Comments: 7
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Having an absolutely fucking RIOT writing this, so I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I've had writing it! I just wanted a fun, loose and fast fic that I could just enjoy writing and actually feel freedom in the fact that I don't know where the plot's gonna go! All I know is that it's gonna be good, it's gonna be gay, and I fucking love my smol ass rarepair Greek Freckles! And I hope I can make at least some of y'all fall in love with them too! Enjoy!

“Ilia! Over here!” Blake called, waving to her friend from steps leading down onto the docks. “You made it!” she grinned as Ilia ran the last few steps, colliding into Blake’s frame with a slight _oomph._

“Wouldn’t miss the tournament for the world, for one thing!” Ilia hugged her tightly before stepping back and tucking her hands into her skinny jean pockets, her usual high ponytail getting tossed playfully by the slight breeze. “And of course I wasn’t gonna pass up the chance to tease your disastrous bisexual ass about-”

“Is someone talking about my girlfriend’s ass without running it by me first?!” a loud voice called from the top of the steps.

Ilia whipped around, staring with wide eyes as Yang came charging down the stairs. She whirled back on Blake, lifting an accusatory finger, “Oh my _god,_ you did _not_ just-”

“He-ey Ilia,” Yang beamed, sweeping Blake up into her arms in an easy bridal carry. “How’s it going?!”

“You two did _not_ -”

“I, uh.. I _was_ going to tell you, but-” Blake spluttered before her explanation was cut short by Yang’s lips against hers.

“You absolute shits!” Ilia exclaimed, whacking whatever she could reach of the pair, mostly raining blows on Yang’s arms and Blake’s knees. “You got together and _never_ thought to tell me about it?!”

“We - well, _I_ was going to!” Blake said as Yang came up for air. “I was going to call you right after our first date a couple weeks ago-”

“ _Weeks?!_ ” Ilia howled.

“Yang wanted to keep it a secret and surprise you!” Blake protested, “She thought it would be a fun surprise, since we knew you were already coming to town for the festival!”

“Yang, you’re a piece of shit, you know that right?” Ilia grumbled, but there was a huge grin plastered across her face that drowned out any annoyance that she tried to force into her tone.

“Blake’s told me this a lot, yeah,” she grinned back, finally setting Blake back down on her own two feet, keeping an arm slung over her shoulder. 

Blake shook her head as Ilia glanced back and forth between them with gleeful expression on her face. “Well _finally_ !” she said, clapping her hands together and nudging into Blake’s shoulder with her own. “Blake’s been an _absolute_ disaster every time we called each other with updates. Except she _never_ updated me on anything going on at Beacon, it was always just _Yang this_ and _Yang said that_ and _Yang’s ass looked so_ -”

Yang’s eyebrows shot to her hairline as she glanced sidelong at Blake with _the most_ shiteating grin Ilia had ever seen. Blake, to her credit, was more red in the face than Yang’s activated semblance. “Right, well, I don’t think Yang needs to hear anymore details, so-”

“Are you _kidding_ ?!” Yang crowed, reaching out and tugging Ilia into her other side as they turned to walk back up the pier towards their dorms. “Ilia, I think you _do_ need to tell me absolutely everything about these disastrously gay conversations when you get the chance.”

  
  


“-and then she just _froze!_ Like, I was right in the middle of a story about a date that had gone _horribly_ wrong and her face just looked like a fucking boarbatusk rolled right into it,” Ilia howled, slamming her hand down next to her empty bowl of noodles as Blake buried her face in her hands. “She went all red and just whispered “ _muscles_ ” after like, five minutes! It was so-”

Ilia’s laughter suddenly cut off as her attention snapped away from her two friends and locked on to something in the distance. “I think I know _exactly_ what kind of expression you mean now, Ilia,” Blake teased as she watched Ilia’s jaw hang open while her whole face flushed red right from her roots. 

Yang glanced over her shoulder to see what Ilia was gaping at - and another shiteating smirk unfurled across her face as caught on. “I mean, I guess we should dub it the _gay girl loses function after seeing buff girls_ expression, now shouldn’t we?”

Blake followed her gaze, her ears twitching towards the source of clanging metal-on-metal and battle shouts. And saw Pyrrha Nikos warming up with a spirited sparring match against the entire team CRDL as her team cheered her on. 

“Leave it to Pyrrha to put her skills up to the ultimate test the day before the tournament starts,” Blake smirked, rolling her eyes. “Can’t say I blame her for picking on Cardin’s-”

“ _Pyrrha_ ?!” Ilia hissed, her eyes snapping over to Blake in a split second. “As in _the_ Pyrrha Nikos?! Top of her class at Sanctum, fitness model for high-end athletic wear, _Pyrrha_?”

Yang’s eyebrows shot up as a smirk quirked the corner of her lip upwards. “Fitness model? Now _that’s_ news to me.”

“It’s a new thing,” Ilia waved her hand distractedly as a loud whoop sounded from across the courtyard, Pyrrha’s teammates celebrating her victory. “Can you introduce me to her, please, _pretty_ please?” 

“Yikes,” Blake muttered with a low-key grimace. “And you thought _I_ was bad with my obsession with Yang.”

“Well, you _were_ -”

“Aw, babe,” Yang slung an arm over Blake’s shoulder, pulling her in close and planting a kiss on her cheek, “you were obsessed with me? That’s so cute!”

“Yang, we are _literally_ dating!” Blake grumbled, but a blush tinted her cheekbones pink. “Besides, at least I know Yang in person, you -” she cut herself off, blinking. “I… Ilia? Where’d she-?”

“Oh, shit she’s already gone,” Yang pointed across the field where Ilia was somehow basically already right in front of JNPR.

“We better catch up,” Blake sighed, putting down some Lien for their lunch before grabbing Yang’s hand and tugging her along after her best friend.

"-saw you from over there, I just couldn't help myself, I'm just so inspired by your work, so, um, I was wondering-"

"Hey, Pyrr," Yang started, pushing Blake into a rambling Ilia to solve _that_ problem before pulling Pyrrha into a headlock and tousling her slightly battle-swept hair. Like wind-swept only a million times better. "Sorry about her. Lesbians. You know how it is."

Pyrrha easily ducked back out of Yang's hold and got her hands around her wrists. "Hm, I believe I do," she said, tightening her grip. "I seem to recall one a many night of you sneaking in through our dorm window _just_ so you could _wax poetic_ about how cute Blake's snores sounded?"

"I…that's-!" Yang spluttered.

Caught off-guard, Pyrrha was easily able to twist underneath Yang, grip still intact, and lift her up and over her shoulder so that she fell hard on her ass behind her. "So yes, I am familiar with the concept of _useless lesbians_ ," Pyrrha grinned, dusting off her hands before extending one to a gaping Ilia. "Pyrrha Nikos," she said, her eyes flashing charmingly down at the girl who had suddenly turned a bashful deep purple. 

Eyes to the ground, Ilia opened her mouth and barely squeaked out air.

"You are _worse_ than Yang!" Blake smacked Ilia on the head before throwing her hands up in the air in disbelief. Behind Pyrrha, Yang let out a garbled groan of put-on pain. 

Pyrrha let out a light laugh at Blake's frustration before stepping forward just slightly and lifting the index finger of her outstretched hand to Ilia's chin, directing her eyes into her own. "And your name is, Miss…?" she trailed off inquisitively, gently settling her thumb just nearly against Ilia's lower lip.

"Amilia! Um, I - Ilitola!" Ilia stammered, flushing scarlet once more. "Uh, it's, oh _wow_ I - um, me Ilia, actually!"

"This is hard to watch," Yang muttered in Blake's ear - having dusted herself off with no problems just to watch the ensuing trainwreck.

Pyrrha laughed again, and Blake _swore_ she saw Ilia's soul leave her body. Or, at the very least, watched her plan the next twenty years of her life within the rapidly changing colour of her irises. 

"Well, _Ilia_ , it is very much a pleasure to meet-"

"But it's okay, really, you can call me whatever you like - I wouldn't mind anything at all!" Ilia steamrolled, filter apparently dysfunctional while Pyrrha still had that gentle touch on her chin. "Darling, sweetpea, schnookums, babygi-"

"Alright!" Yang clapped Ilia on the shoulder, driving her to her knees with an uncomfortably loud _thud_ . "Pyrrha, don't think I won't be getting back at you in the arena for that _stunt_ you pulled just now, got it?"

"I suspected as much, dear," Pyrrha said, slowly turning her attention onto Yang after another long lingering glance in Ilia's direction. "But let's leave that fighting spirit for the individual rounds, shall we?"

"If you can make it that far, _babe,_ " Yang taunted back, a grin twitching at the corner of her lip. 

"Alright, enough you two!" Blake rolled her eyes, tugging at her girlfriend's sleeve."I don't think Ilia can handle anymore of this homoerotic subtext tension."

"Wh-?"

"She is now flat out on the ground," Blake pointed at a sprawled, gaping-at-the-sky, fish-out-of-water, completely non-functioning gay ass chameleon.

"Oh," Yang stated. "Right."

"Poor girl," Pyrrha clicked her tongue sympathetically, kneeling down at her side.

"Wait!" Yang rounded on Blake, but Pyrrha didn't even bother looking up at Yang's outburst. "Exactly how is it that _you_ were immune to said homoerotic subtext?" Yang asked in disbelief, smacking her hands on her hips. 

"Yang, for the love of tuna, you two do this all the time-"

Their banter faded to background noise as Pyrrha gently brushed Ilia's long hair - which had reverted back to its deep red in her brief unconsciousness - away from her face. "Ilia?" Pyrrha called out gently, resting her hand soothingly against her cheek as her eyes fluttered open at Pyrrha's voice. 

A low groan, a fluttering of eyelashes. Then - “Well. This is fucking embarassing.”

Pyrrha giggled again, shaking her head slightly as she offered her hand yet again, as a support this time rather than a greeting. “It’s alright, trust me,” Pyrrha said, sliding her other arm around Ilia’s back as she slowly sat up. “It happens more often than you’d think. Though… the attention has never been so… _fair_ before. Or, rather, so lovely to look at.”

Somehow, through the heady compliment, Ilia managed to keep her cool - both in skin tone _and_ in temperment. “I, uh….,” she stretched the sound for a long while, gathering thoughts. “Thank you, Pyrrha. Um, I… I’m sorry…”

Pyrrha just quirked her eyebrow up in a silent question, tilting her head as she regarded Ilia beside her, an invitation to continue.

“I just… never thought about what all this was like for _you_ \- having people’s attention all the time, it… must be so hard. For people to treat you differently because of something you can’t change,” Ilia sighed, burning a deep black in her shame.

Pyrrha hummed, and Ilia felt her head dip in a subtle nod, her long hair brushing against her shoulder that was only just covered by a cut-off tank of her favourite band. “It is hard, sometimes,” Pyrrha admitted quietly. “But,” she continued as Ilia attempted to shift away, embarrassment swirling across her skin, “it wasn’t unwelcome from _you_ . There’s already something so very _different_ about you, Ilia.”

Wide eyes, saturated in golden awe, blinked across the small space and dove into Pyrrha’s earnest emerald gaze. “You think so?”

Pyrrha nodded. “And… if you would like,” Pyrrha bit her lip, vulnerable despite the way the expression itself ignited an inferno inside Ilia’s _everywhere_ . “I would be _very_ interested in getting to know all the ways that you’re different.”

“I’d like that,” Ilia murmured, after she restarted her heart.

“I’ll be looking forward to it, then,” she replied, her words dropping low as a mischievous spark glittered in her eyes. “Until then… see you in the stands, _darling_ ,” she finished, rising to her feet in one smooth motion, and brushing her lips against Ilia’s cheek on her way up. 

“I’ll be waiting for you in the ring, Nikos!” Yang shouted after her back, somewhere above Ilia. “Now, c’mon Ilia, let’s-”

“And… she’s on the floor. Again,” Blake rolled her eyes as she poked Ilia in the side of the head. “ _Honestly,_ I was never this bad with my crush on Yang-”

“You were,” a muddled Ilia managed to grumble as she sat up for the second time. “You _somehow_ managed to wrap yourself halfway up a tree in the Emerald Forest with Gambol Shroud’s ribbon-”

“Oh my _god,_ fuck yeah - oh, I _remember_ that!” Yang burst out laughing as Blake buried her face in her hands. “It was one of the first time we were practicing Bumblebee and Ruby had said that she couldn’t keep her eyes off me, so she lost her balance and-”

“Okay, _yes,_ we _all_ remember what happened that day!” Blake interjected, flapping her arms wildly to pull attention away from the embarrassing turn that the conversation had taken. “Can we _please_ just get back to the dorms now, I know Ruby and Weiss are both very excited to officially meet you, Ilia, if you both wouldn’t mind?”

“Yeah, yeah, alright,” Yang allowed, tossing her arm over Blake’s shoulder and pulling her close as she pressed a quick kiss to her temple. 

“You know we’re just teasing you because we love ya, right Blake?” Ilia nudged into her other side, grinning.

“Yeah,” Blake smiled softly, heart feeling free. “I know.”

“Besides!” Yang chirruped as a wide shiteating smirk cracked her face. “We’re gonna have _plenty_ to tease Ilia about over the next week, I mean… did you _see_ the bedroom eyes Nikos was giving her? Holy shit, I swear your gay ass was about to explode!”

“No, c’mon, that’s - that’s not _fair_!” Ilia protested futilely. “I held it together! Kinda!”

“Sure, sure, you did,” Yang gave, grin growing wider. “But you haven’t seen her _actually_ fight yet. And if that one small glimpse across the courtyard was enough to completely fry every circuit in your brain? God, I can’t _wait_ to see what you’ll be like when you see her fighting in the arena.”

“With its multiple cameras, filmed in the highest definition, the live feed being sent directly to the _huge_ screens…,” Blake tagged on, her grin matching Yang’s. Ilia supposed that this was more than well-deserved payback. “And the close-ups, Ilia… think about that, Pyrrha’s eight pack, that sheen of sweat from her exertions…”

A dull thump behind them alerted them that Ilia had stopped following them a few steps back due to the rather unfortunate gay fact that’d she’d fainted again. “Oh, for the love of _fuck_ ,” Yang sighed. “Okay, yeah, you _definitely_ weren’t this bad, I’ll give you that,” she rolled her eyes in Blake’s direction as she went back to haul Ilia over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

“ _Thank you_!” she tossed a hand up in the air in exasperation. “Finally,” she muttered.

“Let’s just get her back to the dorms. She’s had enough excitement for today,” Yang shook her head in bemused affection. 

“It might not be so safe for her there either,” Blake pointed out as they climbed the concrete steps leading to the main doors. “Weiss is there,” she explained at Yang’s confused glance.

“Ah.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoop! We're back for another gay ass chapter hell yeah! Seriously I'm having so much fucking fun writing this, hope y'all enjoy! 
> 
> Also, I tossed a Steven Universe reference in there, see if you can catch it :)

A shrieking blur of red greeted them the second they stepped into their dorm. “Ilia!” the red smear screamed, barrelling towards them. Blake, leading the group, was forced to dodge to the side and leave Ruby to smash through the smoke of her clone.

“Ruby!” Blake exclaimed, watching the expression of terror get blasted apart by Ruby’s semblance.

“Ilia!” Yang proferred the barely roused chameleon towards Ruby’s excitement and just let the chaos happen.

“Yang-?” Ilia blinked in confusion a split second before being slammed into and tackled into the hallway. 

“Weiss!” Weiss interjected, affronted. “I am also here!” she grumbled, poking her head into the hallway where Ruby was sheepishly helping Ilia up.

“I’m sorry,” Ruby shrugged, ducking her head. “I didn’t know you had just woken up from a nap! Is the jet lag that bad?”

Yang and Blake made eye contact - and then immediately burst out laughing. “A _nap_ , yeah, sure, let’s go with that,” Yang snorted.

“She just woke up from three _totally voluntary_ naps, yes,” Blake giggled, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

Weiss smoothed the front of her dress down primly as Ruby gently and _slowly_ walked Ilia back into their room. “It’s good to finally meet you, Ilia,” she smiled, but the expression felt wildly feral - like she was panicking internally. 

“Weiss, you said you’d be cool,” Blake muttered under her breath, standing next to her. “Remember what you promised?”

Weiss blushed, a bright red that stood out in sharp relief against her entire _Ice Queen_ reputation and would’ve made Ruby’s cape jealous. “But she’s just so _cute,_ even moreso in person!”

“Wow, I never thought I’d say this, but…,” Yang drew up on Weiss’ other side, smacking an arm into her shoulder like she was a pinball between the levers of Blake and Yang’s pinball machine. “You need to cool it, Ice Queen.”

“I’ll be _fine_ , just watch me!”

“Hi, Weiss,” Ilia approached with a shy smile. “It’s nice to finally meet you, for real!”

Weiss just looked like she got hit by a full-speed boarbatusk - an expression that was starting to look _very_ familiar - then opened her mouth and let out the most high-pitched cringey giggle anyone had ever heard from her. “Oh! Okay!”

“So, this is your definition of _fine_ Weiss?” Blake jabbed, snickering.

“Because, if that’s true, then we’re watching alright!” Yang smirked, reaching high up over Weiss’ burning expression of shame and snuck a high-five with Blake behind her back.

“Guys!” Ruby whined, tugging on their sleeves and pulling them away from their tag team games. “Don’t pick on her for not knowing how to talk to other gay people - she’s just repressed!” 

“No, no,” Yang nodded, gesturing to Weiss and Ilia talking, “you’re right. She’s doing just _great_ over there without any external backup.”

“Have you met Blake?” Weiss said loudly, clearly struggling. “Good friend of mine, I bet you two would get along so well - Blake, why don’t you get over here and say hi to Ilia?!”

Blake’s mouth stretched into a long line of disbelief and bemusement. “Clearly _not_ ,” she shook her head, then wandered over to save yet another hapless lesbian from drowing in gay.

“Guess she’s got nowhere left to stand now that Ilia’s melting her iceberg, if ya know what I mean?” Yang winked and nudged Ruby.

“Alright,” Ruby said flatly, heading for the door. “I’m going to JNPR’s room until this weird energy settles down.”

“It won't be any better in there either!” Yang called after her. “I bet Pyrrha’s already doodling wedding invitations or picking out her maid of honor!” But the door slammed behind her before Yang could finish her warning.

“Pyrrha?”

“Did you just mention Pyrrha?”

“Is she here?”

Yang blinked and turned to look over at Weiss and Ilia, who were standing and staring at her as if they’d been transformed into a pair of meerkats who had just broken free from a hypnosis after the codeword had been spoken. No prizes for guessing the specific word though. “Okay… this is creepy,” Yang said slowly, drifting back into the corner of the room, towards the safety of Blake’s bunk. Which was basically her bunk now.

Ilia and Weiss followed her anyway, closing in and looming over her like a bad horror film. “You _did_ mention Pyrrha,” Blake shrugged, curling up onto Weiss’ bed instead of getting in between the thirsty lesbians and the mention of the tall drink that was Pyrrha.

“I feel like I’m going to wake up in an alley with a concussion and both of my kidneys missing,” Yang continued as Weiss folded her arms and Ilia grinned in such a way that made Yang cover her abdomen protectively. 

“So… Yang,” Ilia said conversationally, leaning an arm against Yang’s bed frame above her. “Did Pyrrha… say anything about me? Y’know, while I wasn’t around?”

“While you were completely unconscious, you mean?”

“I.. well, that’s uh-”

Weiss scoffed derisively, “You _fainted_ just by being in Pyrrha’s presence?”

“ _Three_ times-” Blake put in.

“You’re one to talk!” Yang snorted. “Miss Weiss “Introducing Blake To Her Oldest Best Friend As If They’d Never Met Before” Schnee.” 

“God, you’re all _disasters_!” a loud voice called from the hallway, and everyone whipped around to see who the new challenger was. 

Blake, unsurprisingly, was the first one to recover. “Nora?”

“What the fuck are you - were you _eavesdropping_?” Yang accused.

“Pyrrha asked me to,” she snickered. “Well, _actually_ she wanted me to ask if _her dearest Ilia_ would be -” she paused, cleared her throat, straightened her spine to pull her height up to its fullest extent, then continued, “- _ever so inclined to meet her in the dorm so they could tour the fair grounds together._ End quote,” she said, cocking her head with an eye roll.

“Fucking _bye_!” Ilia practically shrieked as she bolted out of the dorm, tripping over her boots as she hurled herself out into the hallway, turning into a bright pink blur.

Nora heaved a heavy sigh before turning to follow her. “You don’t even know where our room is!” 

“Well,” Yang said into the long-stretched stunned silence. “Guess that takes care of our job of keeping her busy while we prepare for the tournament tomorrow.”

“Yes, I suppose we should be training anyway,” Weiss said, seeming slightly put out as she turned to her teammates.

“Oh, training?” Yang muttered distractedly as Blake crossed the room and straddled Yang’s lap with a _purpose_. “Yeah, yeah, totally… exactly what I meant… mmm, by uh.. mmph.. preparing. Yeah.”

“God, you two… you’re… _fuck!_ ” Weiss threw her hands up in the air with a disgusted noise.

“Will be,” Blake corrected with a grin, pulling away from Yang just long enough to draw a needy whine from Yang’s lips before pushing her down onto the mattress.

“Ruby!” Weiss wailed as she turned on her heel and stalked out, slamming the door shut on the rest of her complaints. “You can’t just leave me here alone with these two, it’s not fair!”

  
  
  


Yang was right about one thing - it _wasn’t_ any better in JNPR’s room. Ruby hunkered in the middle of the room, folded arms and pouting lips and leaned against the wall as she witnessed first hand _the_ Pyrrha Nikos… swooning.

“Blake never told me that her best friend was so adorably lovely,” Pyrrha hummed, twirling her finger around her long ponytail, making even her schoolgirl flutterings seem like they belonged on the runway. 

“Unfortunately for Ilia, Blake never saw her that way,” Ruby said flatly, but couldn’t stop herself from lifting her eyebrows in amusement. She couldn’t really understand what exactly it _was_ that made her friends lose their sanity like this, but it was hilarious to watch the insanity from the outside regardless.

“What exactly does that mean, Ruby dearest?” Pyrrha offered her hand out like a queen looking for a confidant within her closest servent.

Ruby curtsied, to go along with it, for the simple fact that someday Nora would truly snap and start filming their shenanigans like she promised she would, and allowed Pyrrha to guide her gracefully onto her bed. “It means that Ilia had the biggest ol’ gay crush on her best friend but Blake never returned her feelings, dumbass, I mean - _your majesty._ ”

“Yes, it is _your majesty_ to you,” Pyrrha said, sticking her nose up in the air playfully as she giggled. Then, just as she was making a big show of adjusting her gold circlet on her head, her mouth suddenly popped open. “ _Wait_ \- so you’re saying… if I understood you correctly, that Ilia is _gay_?!”

“Oh my god, _no_ ,” Ruby groaned, slapping her hand to her forehead in disbelief. “No, no no…,” she trailed off, entirely to herself.

“No?!” Pyrrha stood, frantically gripping Ruby’s shoulders in panic. “What-”

Ruby let herself be rattled around for a moment before using her semblance to dart out from her grasp, leaving Pyrrha to faceplant on the bed beneath her. “Pyrrha,” Ruby began seriously as Pyrrha began righting herself, looking utterly crestfallen, like the world’s saddest puppy. “Ilia is _obviously_ gay! Your majesty. _Duh_.”

“But you were saying _no_ -”

“Because _you_ are the last person I was expecting to be a useless lesbian too!” Ruby threw her hands up in the air, almost violent in her frustration. 

“We all have our moments of weakness,” Pyrrha said, mollified as she straightened her shoulders and folded her hands delicately over her lap.

“Aaaaannd…. _Cut_ !” a loud clap sounded from the corner of the room. “Great work you two, that’s a wrap on that scene for _Kingdom Pining Hearts_!”

“Oh, so you were there. Alright,” Ruby rolled her eyes as Nora bounced up from her bed, somehow not in the least bit surprised. Then she perked up, “Okay, but did you get some good angles of the whole queen-servant thing?”

“Oh, it’s all up in here,” Nora winked, tapping her head. “Don’t you worry, it’ll all come together to make the biggest teen romance that Remnant has ever seen! Even bigger than that _Eclipse, New Moon, whatever-else_ series that those thirsty moms can’t stop talking about. Oh!” Nora exclaimed, lifting Pyrrha up and spinning her around excitedly. “I can see the fans losing their minds now, the _hashtags!_ Team Pyrrha, Weiss, Ilia? Team _Who Cares, It’s All Gay_?”

“What… is she on about?” Ruby scratched her head, glancing over at a still-dizzy Pyrrha.

“I… honestly have no idea, but I don’t like that look in her eye,” Pyrrha said nervously, glancing away from Nora’s manic expression for fear of being devoured by it somehow. “Where’s Ren?”

“He’ll be part of the sequel trilogy!” Nora waved her hand, unconcerned. “Right now the market is saturated with _those_ kinds of stories, not everything has to be straight, sheesh!” She paused, finger raised in the air as she blinked several times, wheels churning and chugging along. “I’ll be _right_ back. Pyrrha -” she levelled a threatening point in her direction, “-don’t you dare move. I’m about to make this drama even _juicier._ ”

After a long moment, "...I wasn't even aware that there was drama to begin with," Pyrrha state, nonplussed. 

Ruby shrugged, only barely imagining what Nora had in mind. When it came to Nora and schemes, even _Yang's_ wildest dreams couldn't even scratch the surface. 

A loud "Hey, wait up!" seemingly heralded Nora's return. Except that Nora wasn't the one who came tearing down the hallway outside their dorm. A bright pink figure with long dark red hair zoomed past their room. "You just passed it, you fucking moron!" Nora skidded to a halt just outside the threshold, flinging an arm towards their dorm like a disgruntled Argus Airline employee. 

"Oh," a sheepish-faced Ilia poked her head into the room. "Uh. Hi Ruby." A long, entirely useless, entirely gay pause. Then, "Hi… Pyrrha."

"Hello again…"

" _God,_ I hope whatever blasted the moon into pieces comes back and smites us all before these morons get a chance to speak again," Nora rolled her eyes. "You two are useless!"

Neither of them acknowledged the comments, merely continued to stare into each other's eyes with impossible gay longing. 

"Alright, well. This is once again _worse,"_ Ruby sighed, muttering something about not being able to catch a break. "I know I'm not like, the right person to talk about this stuff, like… at all, because the concept as a whole is just _weird_ but seriously… just… please. Just kiss already, goddamnit."

Once again, neither Pyrrha nor Ilia acknowledged or even _heard_ Ruby's comment - luckily enough for them. Just a prolonged stare into the forest jade green of Pyrrha's eyes was enough to send Ilia's heart racing, nevermind thinking about kissing her. "So, uh…." Ilia started, a small smile touching the corners of her lips. The toe of her boot found the ground as her gaze scanned the ground nervously.

“So…?” Pyrrha encouraged gently, reaching out and taking Ilia’s hand, her skin warm and soft. 

Ilia couldn’t help but mirror Pyrrha’s gesture, drawn to her as if there were metal embedded in her very lungs and the pull of her semblance tugged her ever closer. “Nora had said that you… well, she mentioned you wanting to walk around the fair grounds with, um… with me?”

Pyrrha blinked back her surprise, holding in her confusion for a brief moment as it transformed into gratitude. _Bless that girl’s heart_ , Pyrrha found herself grinning. “Why yes,” she nodded demurely, slipping her hands out of Ilia’s for the slightest moment of absence before offering an arm to her. “I had planned to take an evening of rest before the tournament began anyway… I would be honored if you would accompany me for the night?”

Ilia blushed heavily as she slipped her arm through the loop of Pyrrha’s. “The honor would be all mine, madam,” she murmured, tucking herself in close to Pyrrha’s warmth, breathing in the heady scent of cinnamon and... vanilla?

Pyrrha leaned down with a conspiratorial grin, sending the curtain of her long luxurious ponytail drifting towards Ilia's face. "It's my shampoo," she winked. "It's hard to find a good brand that has an excellent record for the upkeep of long hair… surely you would understand that too, I imagine?"

"Oh, I never really…" Ilia trailed off as they started out the door. 

Pyrrha shifted her arm out from under Ilia's hold for just a moment as she ran her fingers through Ilia's long ponytail. "Hm," she clicked her tongue in a soft thoughtful way. "You must simply try some of mine then, dear. I'll even help you with the application…"

"We are _still fucking here_ !" Ruby screeched, having had _far_ too much of it already _without_ the added imagine that Pyrrha just provided.

"You _'re welcom_ e, by the way!" Nora stuck her head out the door and hollered down the hallway. She folded her arms with a disgruntled _hrmph._ "If she gets laid this week, it'll be thanks to _me_!"

“Nora, for the love of-!” Ruby threw her hands up in the air in exasperation for what felt like the ninth time that day, or some numbers thereafter. “I get enough of _that_ just living in the same dorm as Yang and Blake, would you give it a rest too?!”

“Love’s in the air! Even a brilliant huntress like you won’t be able to fight something this intoxicating!” Nora pulled Ruby in for a noogie on her head.

Ruby turned into a blur, ended up across the room with her hands firm on her hips. “I should’ve picked a crossbow for my weapon of choice - because I don’t know how _else_ I can be _even clearer_ about the fact that I’m _so very extremely aro_! Sheesh!”

“Ah, I’m sure there’ll be a robot out there for you somewhere that’ll end up meeting your very specific platonic needs!”

  
  
  


Outside the academy, the surrounding grounds were bursting with life. Food trucks and fairground tents and carnival booths had all popped up with the skill of an efficient travelling circus, and people everywhere were hawking their various wares and treats. 

“This is… kinda a lot,” Ilia found herself remarking, moreso to herself than anything as her eyes flickered left and right at the atmosphere that suddenly felt much more oppressive than it first did when she was eating noodles with Yang and Blake.

Pyrrha glanced over, stopping almost instantly and guiding her over to the side of the path that was roped off to keep a space clear for people to walk. “Are you alright?” she asked gently, stooping slightly to look Ilia in the eyes as she placed her hands carefully on her shoulders.

“I…,” Ilia started, an automatic affirmative getting stuck in her throat as she saw the sincerity within Pyrrha’s expression. “I think I’m just even more nervous because of you - n-not that it’s a bad thing or anything! But I just mean, _wow,_ just look at you, right? You’re _Pyrrha Nikos_. And I’m just…”

“You’re Ilia Amitola,” Pyrrha smiled reassuringly, impossibly gentle and fair and graceful all at once. “And if you were about to say your name as if you were someone who was so far from being special, then I’ll be right here to remind you that you are, in fact, an amazingly special person.”

“But…,” Ilia frowned slightly, biting her lip as her gaze found the open space over Pyrrha’s shoulder. “You barely even know me - I’m a _nobody_ next to you.”

Pyrrha tapped her finger against Ilia’s lips with a small shake of her head, causing Ilia to blush as warmth touched warmth. “I just have a sense about some people, dear,” she said mysteriously, before pulling back upright, keeping a hand on her shoulder. “That, and I’ve heard Blake talking to you on her scroll every now and then. And you know... even your voice had me crushing on you just a little bit.”

“How does the rest compare?” Ilia asked with a rare cockiness, a smirk touching her lips. 

Pyrrha hummed, tracing Ilia’s jawline with a touch of molten iron. She cupped Ilia’s face within her hands, regarding her with such honesty as she replied, “I never could’ve imagined anyone more perfect.”


End file.
